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The Tennessean

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Made in Tennessee is a weekly spotlight featuring products produced in our state. Reach Jen Todd at 615-313-2760 or jtodd1@tennessean.com. For more information on Tennessee products, visit www.picktnproducts.org.

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In honor of Cinco de Mayo, add some spice to your meal with Big S Farms’ salsa and hot sauce, which is made with freshly grown habanero peppers.

How did your company get started? We got started just developing some hot sauce and salsa recipes. I got involved with a family in Parrotsville to grow peppers. They had been tobacco farmers in their family history. We started growing habanero peppers, took those and started making it and kept it growing.

Why salsa? We just kind of liked it and it seemed like a cool idea. There’s tons of hot sauces, but we didn’t know of any East Tennessee products. It sounded like a crazy thing to do, I guess.

Where are your products available? The biggest chain is Kroger. A year ago, they started the Pick Tennessee Products campaign. We’re in 19 stores in the Knoxville area. Last August or September, we started selling to 15 stores in the Nashville area. Porter Road Butcher also has our products.

Where are they manufactured? We use a commercial kitchen up in Kentucky. It’s a community kitchen — it’s all producers like ourselves that can run the kitchen.

How long have you been making these products? Since right around 2000. I think 1997 was when we first kind of started dabbling in it.

We grow the peppers. Other ingredients are from either produce houses like Sunshine Produce for onions, cilantro and garlic, or some are canned, like the tomatoes.

What’s next for your company? We’re wanting to develop and keep growing our Kroger connection, for sure. We’d like to be a staple in the kitchen cupboard for everyone in Tennessee.

Is this a full-time or part-time job? It’s part-time. I have a day job with a construction company.